As America's businesses go all out to slash costs amid the harsher economic climate, a storm of job cuts is sweeping the nation, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street and beyond. Numerous big names including Facebook parent Meta, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs have announced big layoffs in recent months.
Read on for the lowdown on the companies and sectors axing the most jobs right now.
America's retailers from Walmart to J.Crew have announced more than 17,000 job cuts so far in 2023, compared to just 761 in the same period last year.
Among the big names scrapping swathes of their workforce is Neiman Marcus. The high-end department store chain revealed in February that around 5% of its headcount would roll, which translates to about 500 employees.
In February, Affirm joined the long list of tech companies shaving staff numbers when it announced 19% of its workforce or around 500 employees would be getting the chop.
The San Francisco-based fintech firm has been plagued by falling sales that have seriously disappointed Wall Street, hence the job losses. It's also had to shut down its poorly performing cryptocurrency unit.
Having shown 500 employees – 15% of its workforce – the door last August, Groupon initiated a second round of job cuts at the end of January, which saw another 500 or so staff members laid off, though the firings, which equate to 20% of the online deals platform's headcount, will be spread across the first two quarters of this year.
The firm is having to minimize costs as the number of users opting for its deals has been steadily falling.
Software consultancy company Thoughtworks laid off approximately 4% of its global workforce earlier this year, with around 500 staff affected according to TechCrunch.
Interestingly, unlike the majority of tech firms slashing staff, Thoughtworks is doing exceptionally well, having increased its revenue by 8.3% during the fourth quarter of 2022.
In its first round of firings since 2019, BlackRock has got rid of 500 staff, who were notified in January that their jobs had been eliminated. The cuts are part of a $91 million restructuring charge. The multinational investment company began restructuring after experiencing an 8% drop in revenues in 2022 – a consequence of poorly performing markets and the appreciation of the US dollar.
In early February, eBay announced plans to lay off 500 staff, which is around 4% of its workforce.
The reasoning behind the job cuts was outlined to employees in a memo penned by CEO Jamie Iannone, who wrote that the money saved by eliminating the roles would allow the online auction and shopping website to invest in and create new positions in high-potential areas to improve customer experience and adapt to the changing e-commerce environment.
Software company HubSpot has been battling with slower growth. In order to "weather this storm," the powers that be at the tech firm made the difficult decision at the end of January to let go of 500 employees or "HubSpotters" as the Cambridge-based tech firm calls them.
Kinder than many other tech firms slashing staff, the terminated employees have received extended medical benefits and other perks, and were allowed to keep home-working equipment such as company laptops.
As is the case with a slew of American companies, General Motors is getting rid of staff to maintain cash flows, boost profits, and in this particular case, to support its electric transition.
At the end of February, reports emerged that the automaker would be cutting 500 jobs, despite the fact CEO Mary Barra vowed in January that the firm "was not planning layoffs."
GoDaddy is letting go of 8% of its workforce, which based on the total number of employees the company had at the end of 2022 represents about 550 staff.
The internet domain registrar and web-hosting firm has been hit by "slower growth in a prolonged, uncertain macroeconomic environment," wrote CEO Aman Bhutani in a memo to staffers in February.
To date so far this year, Wells Fargo has cut 640 jobs in its mortgage division, following on from the hundreds of roles it eliminated in December.
The culprit is higher interest rates, which are cooling the US housing market and harming the financial services firm's mortgage business. After cutting 140 roles in early February, Wells Fargo did away with an additional 500 in the latter half of the month.
After laying off 60 staff earlier in 2022, Lyft revealed in November that an unlucky 13% of the workforce – some 683 employees – would also be let go.
Recession fears coupled with soaring insurance costs are bearing heavily on the San Francisco-based ride-hailing platform, which according to co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer "has to become leaner" to pull through.
At the start of January, Amdocs revealed it would be letting go of up to 3% of its global headcount, which translates to 930 staffers.
Unlike several leading tech companies, the multinational software and professional services firm, which was founded in Israel and is headquartered in Missouri, had a stellar 2022, but is anticipating a rockier ride this year, hence the job cuts.
After missing earnings estimates in January on its revenue for the third quarter of 2022, Electronic Arts has embarked on a full-on cost-cutting program, which has resulted in the loss of 800 jobs.
The video games producer, which is behind the hugely popular FIFA, Sims, and Need for Speed series, is also paring back its office space in a bid to save money.
Troubled EV maker Rivian announced it would be biding farewell to swaths of its workforce in February, less than a year after it initiated a major round of layoffs.
The Irvine, California-based company is on a cost-cutting drive as it strives to become profitable amid supply chain issues and mounting competition. The cuts represent 6% of Rivian's workforce, which is around 840 staff according to Reuters.
Redfin revealed plans in November to reduce its number of employees by 15%, having got rid of 8% back in June. The tech-driven real estate company, which is based in Seattle, is grappling with a slowing housing market as higher interest rates bite and has had to shut down its ailing home-flipping venture.
The crypto industry was already in bad shape back in June when digital currency exchange Coinbase laid off 1,100 staff, a fifth of its total headcount. The subsequent collapse of key competitor FTX did Coinbase zero favors given its detrimental effect on the entire sector. As a consequence, the firm is shedding a further 950 jobs, which again is 20% of the workforce, taking the total number of axed personnel to 2,050.
Another tech firm that's downsizing and cutting costs as inflation and high interest rates bite, NetApp revealed at the end of January that it would be slashing 8% of its workforce.
The hybrid cloud data services and data management company, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley, had 12,000 employees at the time, so 8% equates to 960 roles.
Hot on the heels of a lackluster holiday season and dismal fourth quarter overall, toy and entertainment company Hasbro is cutting 15% of its global workforce of 6,640 this year.
Consumer spending fell by a higher-than-expected 0.2% in December as people tightened their belts in response to punishing inflation and interest rates, resulting in fewer sales of the Rhode Island firm's products.
Texan oil refiner Phillips 66 is on a mission to rein in costs and reward investors with ever more bumper returns. As part of its plan to save the business a billion dollars annually and boost profits, the shareholder-friendly company pink-slipped 1,100 employees, which equates to about 8% of the workforce, at the end of last year.
As we've seen, major players in America's finance industry are scrapping staff with the biggest raft of job cuts since the 2008 financial crisis reportedly underway, though some are bucking the trend by hiring fired Big Tech workers en masse.
Among the companies that aren't is Capital One. The Virginia bank is eliminating over 1,100 'agile' IT roles that it's deemed are no longer required. This represents around 2% of the company's global workforce.
Digital payments company Stripe announced in November that 14% of its workforce of 8,000 would have to go. Like other key players in the fintech field, the South San Francisco-based business overhired during the pandemic e-commerce boom and has been left with a surplus of staff.
Fellow San Francisco firm DoorDash went on a hiring blitz too during the height of pandemic when food delivery services boomed as people were holed up in their homes. Decreasing demand and rising costs have since hammered the business and, as a result, the company is in the process of scrapping 6% of its total headcount, which is around 1,250 staff.
In August, Snapchat's parent company disclosed it would be ditching a substantial 20% of its global workforce of 6,400. As is the case with other social media firms, a fallback in advertising spending amid the general economic doom and gloom is clobbering Snap's bottom line, prompting the Santa Monica-based business to embark on a comprehensive cost-cutting program.
Rivian isn't the only US EV maker thinning out its workforce. In late March, Lucid made an announcement that 18% of its workforce or 1,300 jobs would be jettisoned.
The bad news came just after disappointing fourth-quarter results were revealed. As per a memo from CEO Peter Rawlinson, costs are having to be trimmed to meet "evolving business needs and productivity improvements."
Vacation rental management firm Vacasa is pulling out all the stops to reduce costs. CEO Rob Greyber, who was appointed to the role in September, is laser-focused on making the Portland-headquartered company profitable and recently announced plans to ax 17% of the workforce, with 1,300 getting their walking papers.
The chips are down for the global semiconductor industry as it navigates a slump. With demand flagging and inventory surpluses now becoming a problem, companies such as Lam Research are responding with extensive job cuts. The Bay Area tech firm, which is a key provider of chip-making equipment, is axing 1,300 staff, which is roughly 7% of its total headcount.
Zoom thrived during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing phenomenal growth, but has since faltered as legions of people have returned to the office.
In early February, CEO Eric Yuan announced the communications tech firm would be nixing 15% of the workforce or 1,300 employees, though he put the layoffs down to "the uncertainty of the global economy" and the effect this is having on Zoom's customers.
Another communications tech firm that has had to shrink its headcount, Twilio was the bearer of bad tidings in February when it announced via a blog on its website that a hefty 17% of the company's global workforce would be going. That translates to around 1,400 employees.
The business is having to restructure to adapt to the tougher times and prior to the announcement had already laid of 11% of staff, who found out they were terminated last September.
New York's BNY Mellon is among the growing list of banks scything staff numbers. With the organization's revenue suffering as high inflation and interest rates discourage dealmaking, 1,500 employees – around 3% of the total headcount – are being canned. That said, the losses are largely restricted to managerial roles and the company is actually hiking up spending on junior personnel.
Yahoo has been going all out to restructure its adtech business, which CEO Jim Lanzone says will be "tremendously beneficial" for the web services provider's overall profitability. Unfortunately, this reordering has led to massive job cuts. In February, the tech firm announced that 20% of its staff, which is 1,600 employees, would be going.
Morgan Stanley faces a tricky predicament. With companies putting the dampers on dealmaking, the Big Apple-based investment bank has been forced to scale back its personnel numbers. The financial services firm got the ball rolling in December when 2% of its workforce of 81,567 were let go, as revealed by bank insiders.
Online furniture and homeware retailer Wayfair thrived during the worst of the pandemic as people staying at home rushed to update their interiors, but floundered as restrictions were lifted.
In August, the Boston-based firm relieved 870 staff, about 5% of the workforce, of their duties and followed this up in January with a fresh round of cuts, which saw 1,750 employees or 10% of the total headcount culled.
Consulting firm McKinsey, which ironically advises other businesses on employee downsizing, is doing some serious job-cutting of its own.
Estimates vary as to how many roles are being cut, with numbers of 1,400 and 2,000 cited. The layoffs are reportedly part of the company's Project Magnolia, which has been launched to preserve the compensation pool of its partners.
Retail giant Walmart has announced that it will be laying off 2,000 warehouse workers across five of its locations: more than 1,000 in Texas, 600 in Pennsylvania, 400 in Florida, and 200 in New Jersey.
According to Reuters, the cuts are happening because Walmart – which has said it didn't make the decision lightly – is reducing its number of evening and weekend shifts. At the same time, the world's biggest retailer is increasing its average minimum wage from $12 to $14 in a bid to retain its remaining employees.
Chemicals colossus Dow, which is headquartered in Michigan, is aiming to slash costs by a billion dollars this year as the global economy stutters and high energy prices, especially in Europe, hamper its operations. Needless to say, staff cuts are top of the money-saving agenda, with 2,000 employees, around 5% of the global workforce, set to lose their jobs.
The "challenging macro-economic environment" has prompted PayPal to reduce its workforce by 7% this year. The job losses, which amount to 2,000 full-time roles, were announced at the end of January by CEO and president Dan Schulman, who wrote that the payment processing company had "more work to do" in terms of restructuring to adapt to the more difficult business landscape.
Indeed staff may want to hit their own website since 2,200 of them, around 15% of the workforce, are being laid off.
CEO Chris Hyams announced the job cuts in late March in a memo sent to employees, which stated that the impact would be felt by "nearly every team, function, level, and region."
In early March, Bloomberg reported that Citigroup is planning to cut "less than 1%" of its global workforce, which stands at more than 240,000, in an effort to reduce costs.
Hundreds of roles in the organization's investment bank division are set to go, though the precise number of job cuts hasn't yet been divulged.
Poor fourth-quarter results and decelerating sales have prompted Minnesota's 3M to downsize its workforce by around 3%, with 2,500 manufacturing jobs eliminated.
The industrial conglomerate makes everything from Post-It Notes and Scotch Tape to medical and car-care products, and is seen as a bellwether for the global economy, which doesn't bode well at all going forward.
Back to ailing retailers, Nordstrom is offloading jobs as it exits the Canadian market. The luxury department store chain, which has six Nordstrom and seven Nordstrom Rack stores in the country, is backing out for good with 2,500 employees poised to be laid off.
The retailer has thrown in the towel as it just couldn't turn a decent profit north of the border.
Mirroring other Wall Street firms, Goldman Sachs is struggling with the dealmaking downturn and pessimistic economic outlook, which of course means job losses are on the table.
In total, the New York investment bank is parting with 3,200 employees, who represent a not insignificant 6.5% of the company's international workforce.
Turning back to the auto industry, Ford has announced three rounds of job cuts over the past year as the Dearborn-based firm adjusts to tougher times and restructures to facilitate its EV transition.
In April 2022, 580 US jobs bit the dust, while 3,000 employees in the US, Canada and India were laid off last June. More recently, 3,200 staff were let go, with European personnel targeted this time around.
IBM has actually been performing solidly, unlike other major firms in the Big Tech field. Its decision to let go of 1.5% of the total headcount or 3,900 personnel is largely down to the spinning off of tech services business Kyndryl and the sale of the firm's healthcare data analytics business. In any case, the Upstate New York-based company continues to recruit staff in "higher growth" areas.
Cisco is also actively hiring while shedding staff and expects to end up with more or less the same number of employees by the end of the current fiscal year. In November, the San Jose-based networking giant announced it would be trimming its workforce by 5% as part of a "limited" restructuring program, with 4,165 staff affected.
As we've mentioned, the global semiconductor industry is facing a downturn. Idaho chipmaker Micron is contending with weak demand and a product glut, reflecting other businesses in the sector.
To help reduce costs, the tech firm is in the process of cropping its 48,000-strong workforce by 10%, a move announced at the end of last year.
Twitter employee numbers have plummeted by more than 70% since Elon Musk's chaotic takeover of the microblogging site in late October 2022.
In an effort to massively reduce costs, the former world's richest person has whittled down the workforce from 7,500 to 2,100 after the latest round of cuts in February, which eliminated a further 200 roles. That said, internal company records obtained by CNBC in January showed that the headcount had shrunk by that point to 1,300, which would represent a staggering 83% drop in staffing levels.
With PC sales in the doldrums and unlikely to pick up for some time yet, HP revealed in November that it would be cutting up to 6,000 jobs, around 12% of the workforce. The Silicon Valley stalwart is, however, cutting its employees some slack by staggering the layoffs through to the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
Demand for used cars has nosedived over the past year, with interest rate hikes and recession fears pummeling sales. As might be expected, the slump is proving a nightmare for online pre-owned auto retailer Carvana, which despite attention-grabbing gimmicks such as multi-story car vending machines, simply isn't selling enough vehicles. Consequently, 4,000 staff, 20% of the Arizona firm's workforce, went in November, with a further 2,500 laid off in the most recent raft of cuts.
A SEC filing in early February revealed that Dell is laying off 5% of its global workforce, which equates to 6,650 employees. As we've mentioned, sales of desktop PCs and laptops have slowed worldwide as customers rein in spending due to inflation and economic uncertainty, with Dell making the move to downsize to “stay ahead of downturn impacts” according to co-CEO Jeff Clarke.
Disney boss Bob Iger announced in a memo sent to staff in February that the media and theme park giant would be cutting 7,000 jobs globally in three rounds beginning in late March. The losses represent around 3% of Disney's worldwide workforce.
The company is reorganizing into three divisions – Entertainment, ESPN, and Parks and Experiences – and is aiming to save $5.5 billion as it faces tougher competition in its streaming and other businesses.
Another tech company that overhired during the pandemic boom, cloud-based software leader Salesforce is shaving 10% off its workforce, meaning 8,000 staff are getting the boot. And on 23 March, Bloomberg reported that the company is considering even more job cuts in a bid to reduce costs and boost profitability. At the same time, the San Francisco-based firm has been offloading office space as it seeks to adapt to the more challenging economic climate.
Microsoft has been trimming its workforce over the past year as part of restructuring efforts and in response to the gloomy economic outlook.
Last summer, 2,000 staff were laid off. A further 1,000 jobs were cut in the fall and the Washington-based tech titan recently announced the axing of 10,000 roles, representing almost 5% of the global headcount.
Echoing other Big Tech firms, Google parent Alphabet went on a hiring spree during the pandemic boom. The Silicon Valley company is now lumbered with an excess of staff as growth has stalled and ad spending has slumped. The inevitable job cuts were announced in January, with 12,000 employees, which is 6% of the workforce, on the chopping block.
Joining the legions of American firms cutting jobs in March was Accenture. The tech consultancy company is letting go of 2.5% of its workforce or 19,000 employees, with the layoffs staggered over 18 months. Like other firms in the current foreboding business climate, Accenture is streamlining its operations to reduce costs.
In November, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the loss of more than 11,000 jobs, or 13% of the workforce. Then on 14 March of this year, the social media behemoth revealed a further 10,000 employees would go, along with 5,000 open roles it had yet to fill.
Meta just can't seem to catch a break, with everything from crashing ad revenues to competition from the likes of TikTok and the outrageous cost of trying to make the Metaverse happen battering the business.
Amazon flourished at the height of the pandemic but hit the skids last year. Falling e-commerce sales and a slowdown in its cloud-computing business, the company's other big earner, have eroded revenues and precipitated a cost-cutting drive. As a consequence, more than 18,000 roles were scrapped in January, followed by another round of job cuts in late March when a further 9,000 staff got their walking papers.
According to TechCrunch, around 10% of the total came from Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon also announced it was shutting down website Digital Photography Review as part of the recent cull.
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